Beneath the Fire (A Guardians Novella) (9 page)

“I’ll pass,” Maia said dryly.

There was another roar of laughter from the bikers. Nathan’s group successfully made their way back to their vehicles without further incident, but he noted that there were fourteen bikers and he had clocked a couple of them with firearms.

He had a bad feeling about this.

***

It was a few more hours before they made it into Monterrey. Lucy texted Eva that they were on their way to the motel where she had checked into. Lucy zipped the car into an empty parking space right in front of her friend’s room. The curtain in the room pulled back and the door burst open. Eva streaked through, her face looking pinched and pale, her eyes bloodshot like she had been crying.
 

Lucy got out of the car and the two girls ran into each other, hugging tightly.

“I was so scared for all of you,” Eva sobbed into her hair. “Let’s not do this again, OK?”
 

Nathan exited the car and observed the girls across the roof. “Hi Eva.”

Eva's eyes glowered suspiciously at Nathan. “You never explained how lacrosse boy here showed up at the most opportune moment.”

“Well—” Lucy began.

“He’s a cop, isn’t he?”

“Not exactly.”

“Are we seriously having this conversation out here?” Nathan said tersely. “Get in the car, both of you!”

Eva's brow shot up. “Bossy. That’s hot.”

“Get in the car, Eva,” Lucy said. She pushed the driver’s seat forward so her friend could hop into the backseat.
 

They were meeting up with the rest of the group in a fastfood restaurant to eat. It had been a grueling six hour drive and they had another two and half to the border. Might as well fuel up with coffee and food.

On the way to the meet-up point, Eva started with the twenty questions.

“So, who exactly are you Nathan Stark?”

“I work for an agency that does work for the FBI.”

“So were you spying on Lucy?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know the FBI stooped to spying on college kids.”

“Eva!” Lucy interjected.

“What? Are you defending what he did?” her friend asked.

“Papa isn’t a good man, they did what they had to do.”

“Use you, you mean,” Eva said acidly. “So what now, Stark? Did you get what you need? Will you leave my friend alone now?”

“Not happening,” Nathan replied. “It’s between Lucy and me, and it’s none of your business.”

“Hmm... something tells me Stark bit off more than he can chew,” Eva said shrewdly.

Nathan grunted.

“So did superboy here swoop down and save the day?”

“They did show up when we needed them most,” Lucy admitted. “He and a colleague of his fought back Papa’s men.”
 
She glanced over at Nathan and grinned. “He was quite the badass.”

Eva leaned forward and stuck her head between them. “So you’re not some preppy, clueless college jock after all, Stark?”

Nathan grunted.

Eva and Lucy started giggling, Nathan shot them an annoyed look.

“There’s Leo and Maia,” Lucy said as she pulled into a quaint looking open-air restaurant.

“Who the hell is Maia?” Eva asked, staring unhappily at the redhead.

“Nathan’s colleague.”

“No way? That redhead? Are you sure she’s not Nathan’s secret girlfriend?” Eva exclaimed.

“I think her fiancé would kick my ass if I so much as looked at her that way,” Nathan muttered.

“She’s very beautiful,” Lucy observed as she got out of the car and let Eva get out. She was also relieved to hear that Maia was engaged.

“How are the girls holding up?” Lucy asked her brother.

“They’re in better spirits, but still very wary,” Leo replied. “They don’t talk too much. I’d hate to think what was done to them.”

“You don’t wanna know,” Maia said grimly. Changing the subject, she walked toward the restaurant. “Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

CHAPTER NINE

Their convoy took the exit to Mexico 85 that would lead them straight to Nuevo Laredo and the Laredo border crossing. Maia’s SUV took the lead, the vans were in the middle, and Lucy, Eva and Nathan were bringing up the rear in the Dodge Charger.

It was pushing 4:00 a.m. It was still dark outside and was looking to be another long stretch of empty road. Eva was chatting endlessly with Lucy, occasionally bringing Nathan into the conversation, but he understood they needed to catch up. Nathan found it fascinating that their conversation ranged from the latest pop star scandal to the latest economic issue being debated in Congress.

They’d been back on the road for half an hour when he caught sight of single beams of light rapidly getting closer. Fuck, motorcycles. He quickly radioed Maia.
 

“Heads up, we’ve got a couple of motorcycles coming up fast.”

“Copy that.”

“Are they the same ones from the rest stop?” Lucy asked anxiously.

“Not sure,” Nathan replied brusquely. Chances are, they were. But he did not want to frighten Lucy unduly. “Just keep driving normally, Lucy.”

A bike broke off from the pack and sped up beside Lucy. It was Scar. He grinned at her before shooting past them and then passed each car of the convoy, clearly assessing their group’s distribution. Scar slowed down and fell back to rejoin his pack.

Maia crackled over the radio. “Be on alert.”

“Copy that,” Nathan said. “Eva, can you hand me that black duffle on the floor beside you?”

“Damn, what’s in this thing?” Eva muttered as she lifted the heavy bag and handed it to him.

Nathan unzipped the bag and took out an automatic assault rifle and two handguns. He loaded the magazines and unlocked each safety.

“Nathan—”

“Eyes on the road, babe,” Nathan said in a steady voice. “Do you know how to handle a car tire blowout?”

“Yes,” Lucy said, her voice breaking and unsure.

“Good. Keep your eyes on the vehicles in front of you. Be prepared to avoid them in case they lose control. Buckle up, Eva.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” Eva chanted over and over as she fastened her seat belt.
 

The convoy picked up speed, hoping to distance themselves from the gang of bikers. One biker accelerated and caught up with the first van. Without any further warning, he drew out a gun and shot out the back tire. The van that Mikey was driving swerved and skidded, stopping diagonally across the shoulder. The second van avoided the disabled vehicle and shot past it but stopped 100 feet away. The SUV that Maia was driving braked, then backed up.

Lucy shot past the first van and stopped behind the second van.

“Stay here!” Nathan ordered as he got out of the vehicle. Keeping to the shadows, Nathan approached the disabled vehicle with quick cautious strides, assault rifle at the ready. The women had spilled out from the side of the van and were running toward him. Meanwhile, Mikey got out from the passenger side, gun drawn.
 

The biker that had attacked them started chasing the girls and shot at the ground in front of them to keep them from running further. As the girls screamed not knowing where to go, Nathan took aim and shot the biker, knocking the guy off his motorcycle which grated against the ground when it lost its rider.

By this time, Mikey was exchanging fire with the rest of the biker gang who had slowed down behind the disabled van after seeing their comrade hit the asphalt.

Everything descended into chaos in a matter of seconds.

Maia, Anton and Freddy ran forward and formed a defensive line 50 feet in front of the Dodge Charger, protecting the remaining convoy.

“Get over here!” Nathan shouted at the girls while running past them all the while gesturing for them to go to Leo who was wildly signaling for the girls to hasten to him.

Nathan finally made it to Mikey who was crouched behind one of the tires of the van. The vehicle was just being pelted mercilessly with a hail of gunfire.

“Come on, this thing is going to blow!” Nathan shouted and yanked the other man up as they tore back to the rest of their group.

They were a couple of steps from their friends when the van exploded, the blast knocking Mikey and himself off their feet.

Shaking off the fog in his brain, Nathan forced himself up and dragged Mikey along with him. The sounds of motorcycles roared behind them. Nathan looked toward their remaining convoy and saw Lucy helping Leo bundle the girls into Maia’s SUV.
 

“Lucy, get back in the fucking car!” Nathan yelled furiously. He muttered a thankful curse when his girl dashed back to the Dodge Charger.

“Brace!” Maia warned, she got down on one knee, braced the butt of the assault rifle on her shoulder, and started shooting at the surging gang of bikers. The bikers fired back, bullets raking the asphalt and kicking debris up along their path. In a blink of an eye, Freddy took a bullet to the shoulder and hit the ground. Anton tried to pull him up and jerked as he too got hit.

“Fuck!” Nathan shouted. The bikes were almost upon them. Nathan crouched on one knee and squeezed out well-aimed shots, taking two bikers down. When a third one was almost upon him, he stood up and swung his assault rifle and collared the man off his bike. Nathan didn’t hesitate to shoot him.
 

The girls started screaming. Lucy!

A red haze clouded his eyes when he saw Scar pulling Lucy out of the car through the window. Six bikers had made it through their defensive line. Looking for Maia, Nathan saw her on the ground struggling to get up. Shit!

“Nathan!” Lucy’s scream pierced his ears and he felt her terror all the way to his gut. Eva and Scar were playing tug-o-war with Lucy. Her friend was holding on to Lucy’s legs for dear life, Eva's body was half out the window. The other bikers were dragging the other women out of the SUV and van. Leo was wrestling with another goon. Nathan charged and knock one assailant off his motorcycle before flying into Scar who finally had a hold of his girl. All three of them crashed on the ground, Lucy quickly scrambled away as Nathan pounded his fists into the biker’s face. Unleashed fury was propelling his blows as Scar grunted in pain, unable to deflect the strikes to his face.

“Noooo! Watch out!” Lucy cried.

Nathan felt a stabbing pain on his back as the blade of a knife plunged into his flesh. He got hauled off Scar by another biker. With murder in his eyes, Scar growled, got close and pulled his fist back to strike him. Nathan pushed back on whoever was holding him, felt the knife plunge deeper—
holy hell
— but got off a drop kick that sent Scar flying. Nathan landed on the biker who had held him. He quickly turned and straddled the man, swung a punch at his face, reached behind his back to yank the knife out and plunged it into the man’s throat angling it up to sever a carotid artery.

Suddenly, Nathan sensed a change in the atmosphere—the bikers had stopped their jeering and their motorcycles had idled. He stood up and felt Lucy’s body hit him. He grunted and took a step back.

“Nathan...god Nathan...” she cried and cried, embracing him tightly.

Nathan frowned when he saw the bikers holding their hands behind their heads, the bright lights of another vehicle shining on them. He briefly registered Maia dragging a dazed Scar up by the scruff of his leather cuts.

Nathan walked forward swiftly, his arms still around Lucy, and that was when he saw them. Two men in the shadows, standing beside a black SUV, pointing some serious-looking assault rifles at the remaining bikers.

“I need to secure them, Lucy,” Nathan said, reluctantly untangling himself from her to retrieve his duffle bag which contained the plastic restraints.

Nathan tossed some of the restraints to Leo so he could help him tie the bastards up. One of the newcomers approached, and after the glare of the headlights receded behind him, that was when Nathan recognized their savior.

Maia’s fiancé decided to piss her off after all.
 
Jack McCord just rescued them all.

***

Nathan watched with amusement as Maia argued with McCord about the whole rescue operation. She was mad at him for coming after her, he was furious at her for taking off without telling anyone—but for all intents and purposes, he did save their ass. Jack was an ex-Navy SEAL and Nathan had worked with him when they rescued Maia from the clutches of a Russian drug lord—McCord definitely knew his shit.
 

The other guy was Special Agent Clancy, the agent-in-charge of Senator Bauer’s daughter’s kidnapping case. Soon there were other unmarked vehicles combing the scene and taking the biker gang away. The DK1 Motorcycle Club was an outlaw gang suspected of transporting drugs for the Braga Cartel and Francisco Cortez may have called upon the MC to go after them.

“You’re lucky that the knife didn’t puncture your lung,” Eva said, after stitching the wound close and securing a gauze pad on the sutures. Nathan had to admire the girls for their foresight in anticipating possible injuries from the rescue mission. “Have someone take a look at it when you’re back stateside. We’re not exactly under sterile conditions here.”
 

Lucy had been fussing over Nathan earlier because he had turned pale from loss of blood and he was lapping up the attention. Shame on him.

Anton and Freddy were also patched up and loaded up into Maia’s SUV.

Leo and Lucy were having a little sibling moment, they were in deep discussion probably talking about their father or the Charger. Leo’s car’s window had been smashed when Scar tried to grab Lucy, but Nathan figured Leo didn’t care as long as his sister was safe. Lucy laughed and said something which prompted Leo to hug her tightly. Nathan smiled, he felt like his chest would burst seeing how happy his girl was.
 

When Lucy saw that Eva was done stitching him up, she ran back to his side, circled her arms around him and burrowed her face in his chest. Nathan couldn’t believe how quickly Lucy seemed to have forgiven his deception. He figured it was the same way he had not dwelled on Lucy keeping secrets from him. It had happened, he had gotten over it. Maia was right.
You have to choose what you could live with and what you couldn’t live without.
Plain and simple: he couldn’t live without Lucy. After going through the intense experience of possibly losing the other, all that mattered now was that they were here, together, and alive.